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Research Article

CeO2 nanoparticles with oxygen vacancies decorated N-doped carbon nanorods: A highly efficient catalyst for nitrate electroreduction to ammonia

Zerong Li1, Zhiqin Deng2, Ling Ouyang2, Xiaoya Fan2, Longcheng Zhang2, Shengjun Sun2, Qian Liu3, Abdulmohsen Ali Alshehri4, Yonglan Luo1( ), Qingquan Kong3( ), Xuping Sun2,5( )
Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, China
Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
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Graphical Abstract

CeO2 nanoparticles with oxygen vacancies (VO) decorated N-doped carbon nanorods on graphite paper (CeO2−x@NC/GP) perform efficiently and stably for nitrate reduction electrocatalysis, achieving a remarkably high Faradic efficiency of 92.93% and a large ammonia yield of 712.75 μmol·h−1·cm−2 in 0.1 M NaOH with 0.1 M NO3−.

Abstract

Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) emerges as a highly efficient approach toward ammonia synthesis and degrading NO3− contaminant. In our study, CeO2 nanoparticles with oxygen vacancies (VO) decorated N-doped carbon nanorods on graphite paper (CeO2−x@NC/GP) were demonstrated as a highly efficient NO3−RR electrocatalyst. The CeO2−x@NC/GP catalyst manifests a significant NH3 yield up to 712.75 μmol·h−1·cm−2 at −0.8 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and remarkable Faradaic efficiency of 92.93% at −0.5 V vs. RHE under alkaline conditions, with excellent durability. Additionally, an assembled Zn-NO3− battery with CeO2−x@NC/GP as cathode accomplishes a high-power density of 3.44 mW·cm−2 and a large NH3 yield of 145.08 μmol·h−1·cm−2. Density functional theory results further expose the NO3− reduction mechanism on CeO2 (111) surface with VO.

Keywords

CeO2−x nanoparticlesoxygen vacancieselectrochemical NO3− reductionammonia synthesiselectrocatalysis

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Nano Research
Volume 15 Issue 10,
October 2022
Pages 8914-8921
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-022-4863-8
Cite this article:
Li Z, Deng Z, Ouyang L, et al. CeO2 nanoparticles with oxygen vacancies decorated N-doped carbon nanorods: A highly efficient catalyst for nitrate electroreduction to ammonia. Nano Research, 2022, 15(10): 8914-8921. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4863-8
Topics:
Nanocatalysts

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Received: 08 July 2022
Revised: 30 July 2022
Accepted: 04 August 2022
Published: 17 August 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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